>
Community Partnerships for Protecting Children
Foster Adoptive Support and Training
The Public Child Welfare Certification Program (PCWCP) is a pre-service education and training program for undergraduate junior and senior social work majors designed to prepare them for employment in Kentucky’s public child welfare services. The PCWCP at the University of Kentucky (UK) continues to operate under the administrative umbrella of the College of Social Work's Training Resource Center. The Participants of this program are exposed to two child welfare courses, 24 hours of training at four Program retreats plus an additional four days of training in their last semester. Both of their practicum placements, accounting for 640 hours on-site in two semesters, are spent with the Commonwealth’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department of Community Based Services, Protection and Permanency units. This collaborative effort between the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) and ten public and private universities is a comprehensive and thorough preparation that is meant to ensure competent and confident workers. Statewide, the retention rate for participants who continue two years or more beyond their initial two-year commitment to employment with the Cabinet is approximately 85%.
To be eligible for PCWCP, students must be full-time Bachelors of Social Work majors with an overall cumulative grade point average of 2.5, a 3.0 in all Social Work courses and a solid commitment to the work of public child welfare services. Students take coursework and CHFS training equivalent to that given new employees in their first six months of employment as well as internships in local Protection and Permanency units. The students’ tuition and a stipend are paid by Cabinet for Health and Family Services for each of their last 4 semesters in the Program. Upon graduation, the students are obligated to work for two years in KY's Children and Family Services local offices, where they might do the work of child protection Intake, Investigations, On-going (treatment), Foster Care, Permanency Planning, Adoptions or Juvenile Services. There are currently 16 PCWCP students at UK, eight of whom were just accepted into the program for the Fall 2007 semester.
At the end of its tenth year in June '07, the statewide PCWCP consortium had proudly graduated 468 of Kentucky's "brightest and best" social work majors during the 10 years. Those graduates have joined Child Welfare workers to provide "best practice" to those Kentucky families who have need of Child Welfare services. With their BSW degrees, child welfare courses, CFC training, and on-site agency experience, they are ready to "hit the ground running."
For more information or to apply to this program, please contact:
Jill Keogh
PCWCP Coordinator
633 Patterson Office Tower
College of Social Work
Telephone: 859-323-7484
Email: j.keogh@uky.edu
